By now you have probably heard that composting helps make a garden green because it is an effective way to deliver nutrients to plants and reduce food waste. Previously we featured the Jarst planter, which makes composting food waste in your home easy with a side compartment that can distribute the compost directly to the plant soil. Here, we see this idea transform into something to fit the city scale. With Envi, industrial designer Julien Bergignant, proposes a concept for a city trash can outfitted to collect and then process public food waste, all while adding some green texture to the city landscape.

The concept sounds a bit tech-y, as Bergignant explains on the Behance Network: “This project uses bio-reactive substances based on photo catalysis to accelerate the degradation process of waste, remove bad smells and polluting gas.”

Normally, creating compost can take up to a few weeks and quite a bit of mixing to be garden-ready, so this concept would have to process the compost in a much shorter time frame and without the traditional flips. Not to mention, there is no control over the mix of waste being left in the bin, and we aren’t sure if the inclusion of bio-reactive substances is appealing to us – it seems to take away from the homegrown, uber-natural appeal of composting. However, we think the technology component is interesting and we love the idea that a composting system could also provide beautification benefits for city streets and parks.